Initiated by a strong diver demand for a commercially available revolving video mounting system, Submerge is pleased to release our patent applied for design.

This video mount will fit any 10 3/4" OD scooter hull, which includes Submerge UV Scooters, Gavin scooter and clones of either.

At left is the complete mount system, shown mounted on a scooter. The hole pattern will fit Gates, late model Amphibico, Light and Motion and other housings which may require some custom in house machining.

Features of Submerge scooter video system:

1) At the point the mount is secured to the scooter, the use of a modified V-block design which is 7 inches wide provides a stable base to attach the rest of the mounting system. The video mount must be securely attached to the scooter so that there is no movement when the scooter is moving through the water. Most underwater scooters/DPV's have cylindrical hulls so attaching a camera is not as simple as if it were to a flat surface.

2) Stability, at the point the mounting system rotates. As the camera will be able to rotate 360 degrees, there is a difficulty to ensure there is no slack or play between the two mating rotating parts. This is made more difficult being underwater, as tight tolerances on unsealed rotating parts often get clogged with sand which is in the water, stirred up by wave action, divers or scooters.

3) Low profile. The camera should be mounted as close as possible to the scooter to minimise drag. This is complicated as the device which allows rotation must be between the camera and the scooter hull.

4) Ease of attachment. It should be a very simple task to attach and detach the camera to the scooter, without tools, as it is often necessary of desirable to do this at the waters surface. For example, for boat diving in rough seas it is much better to lower the scooter and the camera into the water separately and then attach in the water, to minimise risk of equipment damage. Also, it is sometimes desirable to take the camera off the scooter whilst in the middle of a shoot, to take a shot which would be difficult if the camera was attached to the scooter.

5) Securing the camera at an angle. There is a lot of drag in the water. Some camera housings are quite large, and there will be a lot of force acting against rotating parts. This makes it difficult to design a mounting system which is strong enough to hold the camera at an angle without slipping, whilst also using a minimum of parts and which is very easy and fast to adjust.

When taking underwater video, several camera angles can be easily taken which would be far more difficult on land. For example, you can hover easily 30 feet off the bottom taking an "aerial" view, giving the sensation of flying over the object.

However, there are many cases where taking underwater video is far more challenging than on land. Visibility can be very limited, so to take a video image of a shipwreck for example, it is impossible to do it in one continuous shot, as the wreck could be 600 feet long and the visibility only 20 feet. In this case, it would be necessary to move the camera along all 600 feet of the wreck, not just take a shot from one position as would be possible on land.

Taking footage of a water filled cave passage, which can be well over a mile long, presents the challenge of both transporting the camera through the water, and also taking footage when moving through the passage.

In both instances, due to the slow speed of the human swimmer and the drag created by video equipment, often a battery powered electric underwater scooter is used to transport the diver and the camera to the location.

Many divers have attached the video camera directly to the scooter. This enables the diver to transport the camera to the site, while also allowing footage to be taken while moving forward towards or along the object, or through the passage. It can also be helpful when taking stationary shots as the mass of the scooter stabilises the camera (the heavier the scooter, the more stability).

When operating the scooter with the video camera attached, it is most common to have the camera fixed in the look ahead position. This limits the footage to that angle, whilst scootering. Many camera operators would like to be able to take video with the camera pointed at different angles during a dive, not just one angle.

Sometimes divers themselves are the subject of the footage. If the divers are scootering, side by side, having the camera pointed directly ahead limits the shot to the rear of the filmed diver only; whereas the best shots would be looking back towards another scooter diver, or taking a shot from the side, all while moving forward!